Openair® Plasma extends compound possibilities of TPU

Continuously-rising raw material prices and increasing quality requirements demand new technologies and material combinations. By using a combination of various composite materials, a product acquires new material characteristics, like high stiffness and strength, and surfaces that are both soft and non-slip. The production of new bonded composites means a large expansion of the application areas of all different types of materials. Highly customized requirements can be met.

Surface activation using Openair® plasma treatment causes materials that were previously incompatible to bond with each other in 2-component injection molding and in 2-component extrusion. This mainly involves bonding of hard and soft materials, such as silicone or thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) to hard, economical polypropylene (PP).

In the production process, the injection molding die is opened after the first material component has been injected and a plasma nozzle is guided over the areas that are to be bonded to the second component. This way the material is precisely and very efficiently pretreated for bonding to the other material.

This process was developed in close cooperation with Krauss-Maffei, the Institute for New Materials in Fürth (NMF), and Elastogran (BASF). It is now possible to use different standard materials - like in the medical technology or in toy manufacturing - for the first time, thanks to plasma technology.

Using Openair® plasma technology, TPU manufacturer BASF Elastogran was able to greatly expand and improve the bonding capabilities of TPU with other thermoplastics in multi-component injection molding.